Beware of breaks in exchange rates: Evidence from European transition countries

We endogenously search for the single most decisive structural break in exchange rate for a group of European transition countries under the hypothesis that structural breaks in exchange rates are driven by exchange rate policies. Detected breaks were frequently associated with major changes in exchange rate regime. However, several breaks were found not to be driven by exchange rate policies. By this token, the lack of coincidence between policy step and exchange rate regime shift hints at imperfect timing of exchange regime modification. Further, since a one time break can lead to inconsistent results, structural breaks in exchange rates should be accounted for in empirical research.     

Spatio-temporal determinants of the structural and productive transformation of regions in Central and East European countries

This paper investigates the determinants of the structural (between-sectoral) and productive (within-sectoral) transformation of 56 NUTS2 regions in Central and East European (CEE) countries over the 2008–2014 period. Over the analysed period, a transformation of the analysed regions has taken place towards the tertiary sector and high value-added activities. The results from a spatial panel Durbin analysis reveal the existence of product-space linkages and point to a productive transformation towards high technology-intensive activities as an important driver of industrial development. Equal access to digital infrastructure in urban and rural areas and transfer of skills, knowledge and resources through the inflow of foreign investment and imports of production inputs increase the contribution of manufacturing to regional employment. The effect of profit tax reductions on the share of manufacturing employment is about five times larger than the effect of government subsidies to production.     

Nature and determinants of productivity growth of foreign subsidiaries in Central and East European countries

The paper examines the determinants of productivity growth in foreign manufacturing subsidiaries in five Central and East European (CEE) countries by analysing patterns of control, nature of firms’ capabilities and firms’ market orientations. Building on the so-called ‘subsidiary development’ perspective, we show that productivity growth is determined jointly by corporate governance, production capability and market orientation variables. Within a dominantly production-oriented mandate, CEE subsidiaries have a relatively high level of autonomy in the control of their business functions. Majority foreign equity shareholding has a significant and positive impact on subsidiaries’ productivity growth. Our results show strong regional characteristics.     

Some perspectives on currency relations between EMU and Central and East European EU accession countries

Central and East European prospective EU members are natural candidates for a subsequent admission to the European Monetary Union (EMU). This poses questions on (a) the optimal EMU accession time for Central European EU aspirants, and (b) the optimal exchange rate system in preparing for EMU accession. This paper discusses related issues and introduces four special issue papers on the subject.     

Inequality and reforms in transition countries

Distributional patterns evolved quite differently and stabilized at diversified levels across the Central–Eastern European and former Soviet Union countries which underwent transition. In this paper we provide an overview of income inequality dynamics for 22 transition countries from 1989 to 2008 and of the explanations and interpretations proposed by the main literature. We then highlight that while the effects of different transition approaches on output dynamics and other macroeconomic aggregates have been largely analysed, scarce attention has been devoted so far to their impact on distributive patterns. However, this kind of analysis might usefully contribute to complete the complex picture of the many social, economic and structural factors affected by transition and provide useful policy insights for those countries still experiencing deep institutional change.     

Intended electoral participation in transition countries

This paper examines the determinants of intended electoral participation. We analyze attitudes to both referenda and voting in national elections. Sample survey data are obtained from the Eurobarometer survey of transition countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The empirical results suggest that intended electoral participation increases with age, income and education. But attitudinal variables are also important and in particular confidence in the free market economy and satisfaction with the general development of the country impact positively on intended electoral participation. Received: Received: April 2003 / Accepted: August 2004, Accepted: Received: April 2003 / Accepted: August 2004, JEL Classification: H26, K42 We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of CERGE-EI. We are also grateful for the helpful comments of three anonymous referees, the journal editor and R. Filer and L. Squires.     

East European prospective members of the European Union under globalisation pressure

Central Eastern European countries will have to find their place in the EU confronted to globalisation challenge. Up to now, except Hungary, becoming an important EU partner in technology intensive industries, they are relying on their labour cost advantage and exchanging lower for higher quality goods. Accession to the EU, changing trading conditions and implying FDI concentration, will be a heavy challenge.     

The Significance of Borders in the East European Transition

This article addresses the recent proliferation of small-scale trading in East Europe with a special emphasis on the profits and perils associated with border-crossing. The political, economic and symbolic aspects of state borders have changed significantly since 1989, and the economic opportunities associated with border-crossing as ‘trader-tourists’ represent one of the major challenges to varying categories of the populations to engage in activities associated with the capitalistic spirit of the new era. With ethnographic material from Varna on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast and some comparative glimpses of Russian street trading in Northern Norway, the article discusses how the border, in representing opportunities as well as risks, regulates the relationship between ethnic categories taking part in the trade as well as that between the controllers and the citizens. Cet article a pour objet la prolifération récente du commerce de petite échelle en Europe de l’est et met l’accent sur les profits et dangers associés à la traversée des frontières. Les aspects politiques, économiques et symboliques des frontières d’état ont changé de façon significative depuis 1989, et les opportunités commerciales associées à la traversée des frontières en tant que ‘touristes-commerçants’ représentent, pour diverses catégories de population, un des principaux défis de s’engager dans des activités associées à l’esprit capitaliste de l’ère nouvelle. À partir de matériel ethnographique provenant de Varna, sur la côte bulgare de la Mer Noire, et de quelques aperçus comparatifs du commerce russe des rues en Norvège du nord, cet article montre comment la frontière, en représentant des opportunités ainsi que des risques, régularise les relations entre les catégories ethniques qui prennent part dans le commerce ainsi que les relations entre les contrôleurs et les citoyens.     

Institutions and human resource practices in European countries

Abstract

Stemming from differences between approaches to new institutionalism, this paper analyses the impact of institutions on the adoption of human resource practices (HRP) in organizations. With this aim in mind, two opposing hypotheses are presented: should configurations of national institutions be related to the actual implementation of HRP by organizations or not? This empirical analysis uses a sample of 29,959 employees who work in organizations established in 27 European countries and takes into account the employees’ perception about the HRP used in their organizations and which affect them. The results support the approach to new institutionalism that emphasizes legitimacy and isomorphism, since these results show empirical regularities when countries are compared. Specifically, a country’s configurations of regulative, normative and cognitive institutions are related to the actual implementation of HRP, such as internal promotion, job participation, job design, work-life balance, job training, assessment and teamwork. These results suggest relevant practical implications for human resource managers and policy-makers.     

欧洲三国企业人员的绩效考核

绩效考核和评估是人力资源管理和开发的重要环节。在笔者赴瑞士、英国、法国学习、考察期间,强烈感到,三国企业普遍把绩效考核作为达成企业目标的重要手段,摆在非常突出的位置。 考核主体 三国公司在考核主体方面做法一致,采用谁聘任、谁考核的方式,即由董事会考核总经理,总经理考核副总经理,依次     

Distributional effects of imputed rents in five European countries

Most empirical distributional studies of well-being in developed countries rely on distributions of disposable income. From a theoretical point of view this practice is contentious since a household’s command over resources is determined not only by its spending power over commodities it can buy in the market but also on resources available to the household members through non-market mechanisms such as the in-kind provisions of the welfare state and the value of private non-cash incomes. In developed market economies the most important private non-cash income component is imputed rent from owner-occupied or subsidized accommodation. Employing a wider definition of imputed rent that also allows the analyst to capture income advantages among tenants living in rent-subsidized accommodations of various sorts (including rent-free or reduced-rent households), the present paper examines the differential effects of including imputed rents in the concept of resources in five European countries (Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy and the UK). The results suggest that in almost all cases, the inclusion of imputed rents in the concept of resources leads to a decline in measured levels of inequality and poverty. The main beneficiaries are outright homeowners and households living in rent-free (or heavily subsidized) accommodation—most often older persons. The inclusion of imputed rents in the concept of resources does not lead to substantial changes in the ranking of the countries according to their level of inequality, despite widespread differences in the rates of home ownership and subsidization across the countries studied here.     

The new multinational corporations from transition countries

In the last decade, outward foreign direct investment (FDI) from transition countries (TCs) has emerged. The new multinational corporations (MNCs) from TCs are quite different from the former “red multinationals” (1), we describe the emergence of these new MNCs (2) and then provide econometric testing of the relationship between outward FDI and the level of economic development in home country that fits with TCs (3).     

Inclusion and education in European countries: methodological considerations

In this paper, the author intends to explain the comparative challenges of a research project and the methodological grounding and justification of the research conclusions. The research project regarded an assignment of the European Commission to assess inclusion measures in primary and secondary education in 10 European countries, i.e. France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK (Contract 2007-2094/001 TRA-TRSPO). National as well as comparative reports were submitted to the Commission in August 2009 and accepted for further publication in October 2009. The present paper will concentrate on the methodological issues and considerations. It will demonstrate that the conclusions were grounded and justified from a methodological perspective, applying an appropriate mix of quantitative and qualitative methods, notwithstanding serious limitations and restrictions.     

Work-to-family enrichment and gender inequalities in eight European countries

Abstract

All social roles have positive and rewarding as well as negative/problematic aspects. Research on the work–family interface has predominantly focused on conflicting roles. In contrast, this paper extends research on work–family enrichment (WFE), a positive aspect of work and gender differences in WFE in a cross-national context. Drawing upon social role theory and the culture sensitive theory on work–family enrichment, we examined gender differences in experiences of developmental WFE in a sample of service sector employees in eight European countries. In line with traditional gender roles, women reported more WFE than men. The relationship was moderated by both an objective and subjective measure of gender egalitarianism but in the opposite direction as hypothesized. The gender gap in WFE was larger in more gender-egalitarian countries, where women may be better able to transfer resources from the work domain to benefit their family role than in low egalitarian societies. National differences in labour market factors, family models and the public discourse on work–life balance mainly explain the unanticipated findings.     

Inflation aversion in transition countries: Empirical evidence from the Baltic States

In command economies, inflation is either absent or at least unrelated to supply and demand. However, when the economies in Eastern Europe started transforming into market economies, they suddenly experienced high and volatile inflation rates. Transformation countries are therefore interesting laboratories for studying individual inflation aversion. In this paper we study the level and determinants of individual inflation aversion in the three Baltic countries. Using data from 11 waves of the Eurobarometer survey, we find age, education and the macroeconomic situation to have significant effects on the likelihood to mention inflation among the most important problems facing the country. Moreover, we find the populations of all three Baltic countries to be significantly more inflation averse than the population of the United Kingdom, a western democracy with a long tradition as a market economy. We attribute this finding to the specific experiences of the Baltic populations with inflation.     

R&D subsidies and productivity in eastern European countries

This paper shows that R&D subsidy policies at the European Union (EU) and national levels stimulated labor productivity in Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) in the years after their entry to the EU. However, the average impact of national funding on labor productivity was higher for countries in the Western control group than in the CEEC sample. EU R&D subsidies compensated the CEEC in part for the greater innovation impact of Western economies. Although they crowded out some R&D subsidies by local governments at the country level, the EU subsidies crowded in many national and local subsidies at the firm level. Local/regional state innovation aid to enterprises encouraged no increase in labor productivity in all but one of the sample CEEC countries. These impacts are assessed in a sequential structural econometric model estimated using Eurostat’s collection of Community Innovation Surveys covering the years 2006–2014.     

Enterprise clusters in developing countries: mechanisms of transition and stagnation

This paper analyses the dynamics of clustered enterprise development in developing countries. It is focused on the different types of clusters that can be identified in these contexts. After a brief introduction, the cluster concept is explained and the need to understand clusters as an expression of social connectivity rather than mere spatial agglomerations is established. Next, a typology of clusters is presented. This typology is discussed on the basis of recent research on small and medium-sized enterprise clusters in different countries and continents. The types of linkages prevailing in different types of clusters are analysed, as well as their implications for technological change. It is argued that the mechanisms of enterprise growth and innovative activity are different in each type of cluster and hence the opportunity structures that entrepreneurs face are variable across cluster types. Therefore, the mechanisms of transition from one type to another are different, and these are discussed next, as well as mechanisms of stagnation and continuity. In conclusion, the implications for development research and policy are outlined and it is emphasized that support must be tailored to the actual state of existing clusters and cannot be deduced from general theory.